Riverside Publishing charges 4x- 5x the actual cost for shipping their product. On psychological testing kits (such as the WJ-IV), this amounts to shipping and handling costs of over $200 when the cost to ship, as calculated per ground shipping (which is how they ship) for the actual weight & dimensions, with insurance up to $2000 and a required signature, is $60 max within the continental U.S. (From Riverside HQ in IL to Northern VA is only $44.56!). This is disgusting. Pearson Clinical does not gouge customers on s/h charges. Riverside needs to be held accountable. Please sign this petition if you agree. The petition is addressed to Lee Jones, President of Riverside Publishing. There is power in numbers. Pass this along to others you think may be interested.
Thank you,
Dr. Elizabeth Halper
Doctor Halper & Associates,
Psychological Testing and Evaluation Services
Fairfax, VA 22030
President Jones,
Your company, Riverside Publishing, charges outragous shipping and handling that amounts to more than 4x the actual cost to ship materials. On psychological testing kits (such as the WJ-IV), this amounts to shipping and handling costs of over $212 when the cost to ship, as calculated per ground shipping for the actual weight & dimensions, with insurance up to $2000 and a required signature, is $44.56 from Riverside HQ in IL to Northern VA. This is disgusting. Pearson Clinical does not gouge customers on s/h charges, why does your company?
Furthermore, you offer educational institutions a discount of nearly $1500 on testing kits like the WJ-IV, but you do not offer single practitioners or psychologist's in private practice any type of discount. Who do you think private practitioners are testing? Nine times out of ten, it is the same child who was tested in school but for one reason or another the testing process failed to produce effective recommendations. Overhead is high for private practitioners and unfortunately, insurance does not pay for educational testing. Private practitioners have no choice but to pass this cost on to the customer, typically a frusterated parent that is finding a way to pay for an assessment because they feel it is the right thing to do for their child, and their child's future.
Your shipping and handling costs are one of the variables that make private testing financially inaccessible to lower / middle income families and their children. This is completely unacceptale and, to be honest, it is embarrasing.
Hopefully this petition will bing to your attention that this is about more than the fact that your company has a MONOPOLY on certain tests, and in fact it is about more than money in general. It is about doing the right thing, for all of your customers (private and institutional consumers), and the families we serve.
